A Solar Eclipse Deserves a Blessing
Jewish tradition considers an eclipse to be a bad omen. But it should be seen as an occasion for a blessing.
We are on a fantastic journey, over which we have precious little control. As our...
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Keeping the Faith: Resilience in the Jewish Tradition
I’m thrilled to introduce Hashivenu, a new podcast that highlights resilience practices embedded in Jewish teaching and Jewish living.
How has the Jewish people survived for millennia? It’s...
A Ritual of Sending Challah to Kids in College
Although I always seem to pick the hottest day of summer, it is a ritual whose heat and aroma wraps me in serenity, like the fine silk of a tallit.
Although I always seem to pick the hottest day...
Design Your Own Ritual with a Little Help from a Ritual Guide
Ritual helps us pay attention. From the joy of a recovery to the grief of a funeral, ritual helps us inhabit the breadth of human experience.
Recently, I led a Sunday morning brunch at Woodstock...
In the Corners of My Home: A Reflection on a Year of Kaddish
The holiday of Tisha B’Av, the 9th of Av, compels us to see boundaries differently—instead of separating out personal loss from communal loss ... we compact grief into one uniting experience
As...
Jumu’ah Mubaarakah and Shabbat Shalom
There’s a test on everything here these days. Patience. Forgiveness. Understanding.
“Shabbat Shalom (שבת שלום),” Mohammad said to me on Thursday after Ulpan, our intense Hebrew-language class.
“...
Call for Submissions: Embracing the Stranger
Submit by July 31st for this special publication for the High Holidays
During Elul (the month of spiritual preparation before the High Holidays begin), the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association...
A Reflection on Jewish Masculinity for Father's Day
We boys did not know how to comfort other boys, an example of a culture of male toughness, silence, and violence.
I still have a vivid memory from high school of a PE...
Saying Goodbye in the Jewish Tradition
Is a ritual for saying goodbye to a sacred text appropriate for saying goodbye to people?
Jewish tradition and the Hebrew language have many ways for saying goodbye:
Shalom
Shalom Aleykhem
L’...
The Shoe Shine Man: Omer Day 48 – Yesod sh'be'Malchut
Wasn't this man's dignity more important than my shoes?
On a recent trip with a friend, an encounter with a shoe shine man at the airport unexpectedly led me to reflect on the sefirot of...
